Socks

ARTICLES ABOUT SOCKS BY DATE - PAGE 2

The bloodstained sock worn by former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling during the 2004 World Series will be put up for sale next month and may bring in at least $100,000, auction organizers said. Schilling pitched with stitches in his right ankle to stabilize an injured tendon and helped lead Boston to its first World Series championship in 86 years. Blood from the wound seeped into his white sock, which has been on display at the National Baseball Hall of Fame since 2004. Schilling, 46, is putting the piece of Boston sports history up for auction eight months after his video-game company, 38 Studios L.L.C., went bankrupt and left Rhode Island taxpayers responsible for a $75 million state loan.

Look around the gymnasiums of local high schools next week and you are sure to see a lot of pink. It's Coaches Vs. Cancer Pink Sock Week. Coaches Vs. Cancer is a nationwide collaborative project between the American Cancer Society and the National Association of Basketball Coaches. Fund-raising events raise awareness throughout the season, including boys' and girls' tournaments. The Philadelphia-area organization raised $234,000 in the last fiscal year, the most in the local initiative's history.

One of the most painful moments a small-business owner can face is realizing it's just not working. Maybe it's a product that's not succeeding. Or business taken away by a competitor. When something goes awry and sales take a hit, big changes are needed, sometimes quickly, to turn things around. Socked by competition. Cabot Hosiery Mills had great success in its first 20 years, making private-label socks for retailers like JCPenney and Gap. But in 2000, sales began falling as stores began buying cheaper socks from Chinese vendors, said Ric Cabot, co-owner and son of the company's founder.

David Griesing blogs about bringing values into your work at www.davidgriesing.com If your readers on Amazon aren't writing enough glowing reviews about your books, what's an enterprising author to do? Well if you're British crime writer R.J. Ellory, you start anonymously writing and posting those glowing reviews yourself. And why stop there? While he was busily embellishing his own critical commentary, he also was posting anonymous slash-and-burn lines about authors and books he viewed as competitors - for more than 10 years, apparently - until he was outed recently by a fellow author.

IT'S NO SECRET that former Phillies ace Curt Schilling is hurting for cash. You don't get featured in ESPN Film's latest 30-for-30 documentary, "Broke," unless you're . . . well . . . broke. Schilling has said he personally lost almost $50 million when 38 Studios, his video game company, filed for bankruptcy. On Thursday, he said he may also lose some of his most cherished sports mementos, including the bloody sock he wore while pitching for the Red Sox in Game 2 of the 2004 World Series.

Question: We have been lucky to have open communication with our boys about sex over the years. Now they are 16 and 17 and have girlfriends. The 16-year-old has opted for "everything but" because that makes him feel safest. The 17-year-old is having sex and wants me to allow his 18-year-old girlfriend to spend the night. I have persuaded them to get on the pill, but I feel like they should be having sex in the backseats of cars like the rest of us had to. (Ha, just a little humor there!

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Resentment lurks near the surface of the conservative political consciousness. Many voters believe (not always without cause) that elite, hipster liberals in academia and the coastal Big Media are sneering at them, their lives, and their beliefs. They see themselves presented as unsophisticated, bigoted, and quite possibly stupid. So Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich was tapping into a powerful psychological current when he attacked the news media Thursday at the start of a CNN debate, responding to an ABC News interview with his ex-wife Marianne, in which she said he had demanded an "open marriage" so he could carry on an affair with the woman he subsequently married after divorcing Marianne.

We are entering a new era (cue space-age music) - the age of the sock. That's right, socks in sexy stripes and eye-catching argyles are men's accessory of choice this winter. Ankles never looked so good. "They add a little flavor to my clothes," said Irving D. Smith, a 54-year-old SEPTA police officer who favors multicolored stripes. "I get lots of compliments on them, especially when I sit down. " So natty. The focus on manly footwear this fall comes from the British influence on men's clothing, a combination eclectic/preppy look that favors pants hemmed shorter to show off polished shoes and, well, socks.

The high sock, once so esteemed that teams were named for it, has largely vanished from view in American baseball - covered, smothered, by what Phillies chairman Bill Giles uncharitably terms "pajama pants. " A handful of players have resisted this assault on American hosiery, this onslaught of the falling cuff. The most notable in Philadelphia, of late, is 6-foot-4 rightfielder Hunter Pence, who joined the team a month ago. Pence is all leg and energy. His high socks are a feast of red as he digs in at the plate, a whirling blur of rojo as he rounds the bases.

Blistered and scarred, American sprinter Justin Gatlin arrived in South Korea for the world championships with frostbite on both feet. The 2004 Olympic champion, who last year made his return to competition after serving a 4-year doping ban, said yesterday he got frostbite about 2 weeks ago after going into a cryogenic chamber with wet socks. He didn't lose any toes and will still run in Daegu, but his wounds are not completely healed. "You wake up at 9 o'clock in the morning in Orlando and it's already 90 degrees," said Gatlin, 29, who lives and trains in Florida.